Author: Mel Shoe

One of the main reasons I decided to start this project was
to push myself out of my comfort zone. Like
most humans, I’m terrified of failure or looking stupid and whilst this might
be a normal part of the human condition, I think that my self-consciousness has
been holding me back from too many things.

I’ve had some bad injuries in the last few years which have made me extra cautious around falling down. Due to various medications and illnesses, I’ve lost a lot of my hair and to add insult to injury, my head and face seem to be the sweatiest parts of my body. When I get overexerted, anxious or stressed, I look like a bald, shiny, soaking wet tomato. I hate it and often withdraw from activities so that I don’t feel uncomfortable. Increasingly though, I’m coming to the realisation that I would rather be sweaty and look ridiculous than continue to sit on the sidelines.

So, to my first adventure: Roller Skating (and also blading)

Skating is not new to me.
When I was about 7, I became obsessed with the idea of roller-skates,
which led me to borrow a neighbours skates so that I could practice roller-skating
around my bed. As the house was
carpeted, this practice lead to a very disappointing experience the first time I
got onto concrete and I fell over many, many times – but I persevered.

Santa was kind enough to bring me my own pair of skates and
soon enough I was whizzing up and down the street and performing amazing stunts
and plays with a girl who lived in my street. I regularly skated home from
school and bossed around my younger siblings and other kids in the street, as
part of lessons I delivered for the very reasonable price of 50 cents a person.

There was a roller-skating rink in my town that I thought
was the most amazing place on earth. I
used to look it up in the phone book regularly, and memorized the number so
that I could be relied upon if ever a skating party needed to be booked. We
went there for birthday parties and a few memorable school excursions before someone
fell and broke their arm.

I was about 11 when rollerblades were released and I was entranced. Once again, Santa did me a solid and after adjusting to the different balance and style, I was hooked all over again. Then, I went to high school and although I still skated occasionally, my interest started to wane. We had moved to a new neighbourhood, my school was too far away to safely skate to and being a teenager, my attention shifted to other deserving recipients (boys, specifically Luke Perry).

I hadn’t done any form of skating for at least 20 years, but
it was something that I was keen to explore again. Before Christmas, some
friends and I had started talking about skating – one was getting rollerblades for
Christmas (Cindy) and another (Heidi) was looking into skating as a new form of
exercise. We found a skating rink and set a date to attend the Friday Night
Family Roller Disco. It was amazing.

Being me, I was concerned about having the right outfit. I didn’t
want to go full active wear, but also felt that my usual wardrobe of wrap
dresses and skirts would not be suitable.
Heidi pointed out that I could lean into the 80’s vibe and wear a skirt over
some running tights and that dilemma was solved. I also invested in some delightful metallic
silver eye shadow that proved to be an excellent distraction and, I’ve since
discovered, will be stuck to my skin for the next 10,000 years.

The venue:Skateworld Mordialloc – although it was about 200km from the skating rink I grew up with, the whole set up felt very familiar. It was, like stepping back into 1989 in all the best ways. Our booth consisted of old bench seats from the Comeng carriages, which used to service Melbourne’s train network. This place is ripe for a hipster led revival and I fully expect to see elaborately tattooed and bearded men serving single origin coffee and obscure craft beers before the end of the year.

The cost: $20 per person, which included entry and skate hire. Booths can be booked for $20

The crowd: The vast majority of attendees were between the ages of 6 and 12. There were a few parents supervising and some older, cooler siblings. In addition to the parents supervising their kids, there was one older gentleman who was giving off some very heavy “cool single dad who is here to party” vibes. We were joined by our slightly sceptical husbands (Evan, Donald and Paul), set ourselves up in a booth and got ready to roll.

The action: I started out with roller skates, wanting the full retro experience. This was a quick reminder of how much had changed since 1989. I was terrified. Just shuffling to the rink took about 20 minutes. I managed a very slow, deliberate skate around the edges of the rink, clinging desperately to the railings as confident 7 year-olds flew past me looking bemused. I felt like I was going to fall over every time I shifted my weight. How on earth had I managed this before?

My friends were doing much better than me. Cindy and Paul both had their own skates and
were happily whizzing around the rink.
Heidi, Evan and Donald has both moved past their initial trepidation and
were moving freely around, kindly offering to chaperone me on my very long
journey.

Whilst the rink was taken over for a game of skating limbo, I decided to swap to roller blades in the hope that I would feel more secure and balanced. This turned out to be true and I was able to skate a few more laps without needing to cling desperately to the support railings. I even overtook a few kids (most of whom were under the age of 6 and being patiently walked around the rink by their mother) and felt satisfied that, perhaps deep down, I had retained some of the skills from long ago.

What I had not retained was my muscle tone and agility. Although the roller blades were easier to
skate in, they were incredibly uncomfortable. As an avid wearer of stupid
shoes, I’m familiar with my feet being uncomfortable, but this was next level
pain. I considered that my skates might
be too tight and went up a size. Whilst this reduced the discomfort a little,
my ankles felt completely unsupported and as a veteran of some nasty ankle
injuries, I’m hyperconscious of anything that leads to a lengthy stint on
crutches.

The stern talking to: I was considering my next move, when the dancing competition started. I held back, not wanting to look stupid, but after giving myself a quick pep talk “Who the fuck cares, you’re at a roller rink in Braeside, just go and enjoy yourself” I leaned down to tighten my skates and felt the twinges of an old back injury. The joys of being a late 30’s, overweight and unfit dreamer. I wanted to cry and also vomit a tiny bit from that pain, but managed to hold my composure and enjoy the rest of the night. I was disappointed that I had been held back, first by my fear and then by being out of shape.

This has happened before, and would have previously meant
that I walked away and never ever tried again, but I’m so tired of cutting
things out because I am scared or uncomfortable. I’m going to take a few skating lessons (I
imagine it will cost slightly more than 50c) and see what I can do to rekindle
this long forgotten love.

The verdict: I got eye makeup all over my face, wore uncomfortable shoes and injured myself attempting to dance. I had fun with my friends, who braved the outer suburbs and were kind and supportive. An excellent Friday night.

I’m really good at starting things (see previous post) but a lot less disciplined when it comes to persevering and finishing things. My level of interest in most things tends to be either complete obsession or total disinterest.

I love this image but don’t know the source, if you do, please let me know and I will happily update

That has served me well, to a point, but part of this exercise is about learning to explore things outside my comfort zone and doing things and a sustainable pace. Fortunately, I do respond very well to rules and structure, so a very good friend who is a lawyer and loves rules and regulations (because, lawyer) has helped me come up with some rules to make this whole thing work….

Behold:

Avoiding things that my husband is already into. Fair enough – my beloved is a very nice man who has this hobby thing sorted. Exploring things that he is already totally across and into (and better at than me) will not be interesting or motivating for me – so that means no: brass band, bass guitar, recreational aviation or craft beer – Fine by me.

However my Husband and friends who are grownups with proper hobbies are very interesting, so occasionally I will be using this blog to explore what has inspired other people in pursuing interests and he will definitely get a go there…

I need to pick hobbies that have a mix of demands in terms of effort/vs reward. I can’t just go for a bunch of easy stuff… alternatively, I need to push myself and try things that are a longer term commitment. This is very important to make sure I balance things and stick to things that I’m not immediately brilliant at. Therefore, I can’t report on anything after just one attempt/class… I also need to mix things up in terms of involvement. Some things might be everyday (meditation) and some might be seasonal (skiing. Please note, I will not be going skiing) I’m not a presenter on a lifestyle show, and I need to actually learn how to learn things again.

I need to pick a range of things that use different senses…. A mix of movement, touch, taste, sight etc.

This is supposed to be fun. Yes, I’m supposed to get out of my comfort zone, but not to the point where I am dreading this or miserable. It’s ok to try things and not like them, the important thing is to try and to not determine my interest in something based only on my ability/skill

I need to explore a mixture of group solo and group interests

Friends can accompany me on these adventures and suggestions are support is welcome.

Freebies and endorsement deals are very welcome (however unlikely) and all such arrangements will be disclosed as part of my reporting

In a separate post, I’ll set up a list of suggestions, where we can track progress and suggestions…. Feel free to send me your ideas of volunteer to join me hello@judgingisnotahobby.com

So. I had a great idea for a blog four years ago that was going to help me find new interests outside of work, and then, well, work took over most of my time. Lesson learned. Let’s try this again… (December 2018)

When I was a kid, I had a bunch of hobbies. I was in swimming squad, played netball, basketball and racquetball. I was debating captain, read about 200 books a year and loved writing short stories.

Somewhere, in the midst of turning into a grown up, these stopped being a regular part of my life.

The challenges of becoming independent, paying for your own stuff and being responsible for getting yourself to and from things seem to lead lots of us to change our interests and stumble awkwardly during conversations when someone asks “So, tell me about your hobbies…”

My husband has hobbies, proper ones like music and photography and learning how to fly airplanes (apparently proper hobbies are expensive and come with a lot of equipment)

At a lunch with some friends last year, the topic of hobbies came up and most of us were bereft (because shopping and reality-tv do not count) but one of my friends was brilliant. She listed running, learning the guitar, speaking spanish and a bunch of other well rounded and interesting sounding pursuits. If she was ever looking to apply to a prestigious US college (or preschool) she would be snapped up.

So far, I have ascertained, or been explicitly told that the following activities and interests are not hobbies:

Judging

Thinking about being Amy Poehler’s best friend

Looking at fancy pants real-estate listings

Owning (but never using) a drawer full of nail polish/lipstick

Writing lists

Writing lists of all the wrists I need to write

Being on a first name basis with the staff of every cafe I frequent

Sending bear memes to friends at 1am

Being sarcastic on twitter

Listening to talk back radio

Online shopping

This leaves me with, um….. a list of stuff I’ve always thought that I would like to do, but never gotten around to, or have tried once or twice but never gotten into the groove of, like:

Tae Kwon Do: Went as far as winning a free pass to a class when I was 15.

Radio Presenting: Actually something I love – have dabbled occasionally, but never actually signed up for a course

Cupcake decorating: Of Course, because it was 2010 after all. Fun. Probably should attempt to apply the skills I learned at some point

Cooking: I learned how to not hate cooking about 8 years ago. I do enjoy it, I’ve even had classes with Tonia Todman, but nothing beyond an occasional weekend dabble.

Speaking another language – I know a speckle of french and a few other phrases in German, Swedish and Dutch, but its like saying you’re an oceanographer because you saw Finding Nemo

Writing a blog (and posting on it more than twice) Always planned to, but felt I needed a topic or a theme…

So here we are. I need a blog topic and a I need a hobby.

Join me as I road test all the weird and wonderful hobbies a self absorbed, accident prone 30 something woman could ever hope to try. Stay tuned for the list and a rundown of how I’m going to make this thing work…